Disgruntled Consumers Speak Out Online

The Retail Consumer Report—commissioned by RightNow and conducted online by Harris Interactive —polls 1,605 U.S. adults who shopped online during the most recent holiday season. The report finds that consumers who have a bad experience will not come back to a site. And more than ever, unhappy consumers are turning to the social Web to share their complaints. Other findings include:

• 68% of consumers who posted a complaint or negative review on a social networking or ratings/reviews site after a negative holiday shopping experience got a response from the retailer. Of those, 18% turned into loyal customers and bought more.

• Of those consumers who received a reply in response to their negative review: 33% turned around and posted a positive review, and 34% deleted their original negative review.

• Consumers, however, have fairly low expectations that retailers will respond to their negative posts. Of the 32% of consumers that did not receive a response to their negative review from the retailer, 61% would be shocked if a retailer responded to their negative comment on the social Web.